Wideband 6-Bit SiGe BiCMOS T/R Module Core-Chip for X-Band Phased-Arrays

In this paper, a 8-to-12 GHz 6-bit SiGe BiCMOS transmit/receive (T/R) module core-chip is presented. Its sub-blocks are designed by considering the 3-dB gain-bandwidth (BW) to provide a linearly increasing gain for the core-chip. The design achieves 21.95/23.86 dB of peak gain with a slope of +3.7/+3.86 dB/GHz from the receiver and transmitter chains, respectively. The receiver's measured NF is 12.8 dB, while the transmitter's output-referred compression point is measured as 13.6 dBm. The 18.61 mm
²
core-chip achieved maximum 5%0.5 dB of RMS errors respectively, dissipating 400 mW of power. To the best of authors' knowledge, the presented SiGe BiCMOS 6-bit core-chip has the best gain and BW features without sacrificing from power dissipation and RF functionality.